Can I apply this reasoning to other areas of my life? Can I throw my garbage on the ground becuase in the grand scheme of things one piece of trash is insignificant. Is it ok for me to steal from corporations beucase a thousand dollars is a rounding error in their profits? Can I dump my waste in a lake becuase heck a little waste won’t affect something the size of a lake.
But Wal-Mart has acted illegally and immorally.
They used illegal workers for their cleaning crews. (They subcontracted them but knew that the workers were illegal)
They lock in workers making it impossible for them to leave in emergencies. For example Mr. Rodriguez in the following article could not leave after having his ankle crushed.
Those are the things I can remember off the top of my head. In the course of my searching I found walmartwatch.com which as you can deduce from the site name has a litany of complaints about Walmart. I won’t vouch for its accuracy but a couple of their claims I put into to google and found corroborating sites. Take what you will from it.
However WalMart has been repeatedly accused and found guilty of illegal, immoral and unethical practices. Are you going to continue to patronize them?
Quite true. However, I’d hope that as a person of stout moral fiber, and representative of the court, your behavior would be exemplary. No JD here, please reexamine your definition of “immoral” as Mall-Wart has met the definition, IMHO.
Dig deep enough and you’ll find examples of every company acting “immoral” at one point or another.
I can see why you hate abuse in corporations, but this hard-on for Wal-Mart is just silly. It reminds me of Enron villified because of links to Bush, but I haven’t heard anything here about WorldCom. (I’m not even thinking of political links there) :rolleyes:
Well duffer every company might not be squeaky clean but that does not excuse Wal-Mart from being neck high in shit.
Type in WalMart illegal activities in google and you get numerous sites. My quick search for Target, Best Buy, Circuit City and Home Depot illegal activities found nothing. Now if you want to go ahead and chalk that up to increased attention or what have you by all means continue deluding yourself. The fact remains that WalMart has acted illegally, immorally and unethically numerous times. Supporting them as a business is wrong despite their low low prices.
This is just a stupid, stupid argument. Beyond moronic. Earlier in this thread, someone posted Walmart’s average pay: $9.68/hr. Let’s say that a husband and wife both work at Walmart for $9.68/hr, and are able to work 34 hours a week (no full time work). They would make a combined yearly gross income of $34,228.48. Now that’s not a fortune by any stretch of the imagination, but assuming they have 2 kids, it’s $15,828.48 over the Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2003 as determined by the Dept of Health and Human Services. For a part time job. Looking at the numbers, it seems plain that you’re full of shit, bucko. If families making almost $35K/yr are welfare cases then we have a serious case of entitlement run amuck on our hands.
treis, out of curiosity, what Congressional district do you live in? And who are your Senators? See, Wal-Mart only operates because the FTC allows them to. (Oh, please tell me it’s Bush’s fault)
With all the laws they’re breaking, how in hell are they still in business? And what are your representatives doing to stop them from tearing apart the very fabric of America? From what I’ve seen here, the following agencies can cause a shitstorm. And apparently could have years ago under other administrations, so those in charge aren’t very relevant:
FTC
SEC (publicly traded)
OSHA Possibly a few others I’m not thinking of
Couple of words. Pawn shops and ebay. WAY cheaper than wallies even, and you’re putting money into the hands of an actual fellow American rather than the coffers of the Borg ship.
I’m buying the same stuff I could elsewhere. For less money. Here ya go.
danceswithcats, expansion means need to upgrade existing resources. Your interstate at some point was likely a farm. I’m sure the owner saw it as the end of the world.
You’re in the driver’s seat, what would the health insurance costs be for this family of four, given that they are only working part time? How much is then left of the $34.2K?
I do this as well. Pawn shops are incredible for deals if you don’t mind something not being in a pretty package. The brokers won’t take it if it doesn’t work. No warranty, but they also don’t buy old stuff. TV’s, surround systems, power tools, firearms, computers, lawn equipment, cameras, music instruments, rug cleaners, the list is endless.
The only problem I have with e-bay is the shipping charges some add. If you pay attention to that, no problem. But keep them in mind if you’re looking for a deal.
All well and good, however I hold that those who benefit must bear the lion’s share of the cost.
Where I grew up, it was a farm community, as was most of central and upper Bucks County. When the developers bought up land and built little pink houses, they got away without funding the cop shop, trash, sewer, bandaid wagon, schools and fire service because we were asleep. The developers took their money and ran, without funding the infrastructure improvements.
My point with and is that if you’re making more money doing what you do, then you need to fund improvements on your own P&L, not on the public dole.
In a simple question form: Why should you and I (as taxpayers) fund road improvements for a private enterprise?
Being in the driver’s seat he could choose to accept the job or look elsewhere for a full-time job that offers benefits. A lower hourly wage is off-set by the savings in benefits. That should make you happy, as a store with no employees won’t remain open long.
Unless you take into account those that don’t need benefits but like the decent wage. But that won’t happen as those workers aren’t living by your mandate, right?
Should the local municipality tell Mall-Wart pay for it yourself do you think that Mall-Wart will suddenly uproot itself from Bentonville and seek another more ignorant community suitor? If so you’re highly deluded.
I’ve watched municipalities prostitute themselves to various businesses, offering tax breaks and other incentives, and when the agreement term was over, the town slept in the wet spot with a vacant commercial property. Problem was that the John and Jane Does had to make up the shortfall in revenue.
My point is that as a major employer, one does not get a free pass, one must make an investment in the community from which one earns it’s capital, and should not expect municipal funding for infrastructure improvements which lead to continued growth.
Why do you make the assumption that both parents work at Walmart or even that both parents are employed? Or that Walmart employees are in a married, 2-parent family?
Have you read the Berkely study that shows that the cost to the State of California of Walmart employees in public assistance amounts to $86 million per year? And that if other large retailers followed suit in their wage and labor practices that it would cost the state an additional $410 million per year in public assistance?
Have you read the reports (this one, for example) that show that Walmart employee relations departments encourage their employees to apply for public assistance to the extent of helping them fill out the forms? (page 4 and 5 of that article)
The National Labor Committee reports that about 50% of Wal-Mart employees are eligible for food stamps. (Sorry, the link to NLC was down when I wrote this, but if you Google for this, you will see that many sources quote this item.)
You may argue that these reports and studies come from labor-friendly sources, but facts are facts.
You know, they *are * successful. Successful at selling lots of cheap crap that nobody needs anyway. They are also successful at pressuring suppliers to cheapen their product to the point that it’s so cheap that “Small-Smarts” will actually order it by the truckload and then pass the poorly made dreck on to some lucky sucker.
[rant that makes the Baby Jesus and J. P. Morgan cry]
Why do all y’all (and by “y’all” I only mean those people who feel a need to mindlessly consume junk) need to buy so much worthless shit anyway? Who needs to have 10 more DVD’s or 2 more TV’s or yet another Precious Moments piece of utter nonsense to go on top of the veneered, particle-board knick-knack cabinet? With all the money spent on this brainless materialism we could send some kids to college, or purify some water for some poor thirsty baby in Og-knows-where. But these are America’s priorities: run the credit card up to the limit, buy more crap than your neighbor has, throw it out six months later when it falls apart, then go buy more–lots more-- of whatever the TV or the Elks Club or Satan or the placemat at McDonalds TELLS you to buy.
Try *paying off * your credit card bill instead of buying more useless trinkets. Try making a friend some cookies with ingredients bought from somewhere that isn’t a shill for Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland. *Home-made * cookies instead of that worse-than-ersatz Crisco-and-Corn Syrup shit they shove down your throat at Sam’s Flub.
Maybe talk to your kid for once instead of jamming that new trashy TV or Game-Boy in his room like a giant pacifier of neglect shoved straight up his ass.
Do you really need another set of 10 matching ashtrays? When you don’t even smoke? (But… but… they were on sale!). Fuck that. Maybe give it to charity for a change.
Why? Why? Why so much willfully ignorant consuming? Are you just one more slug doing his part to shuttle mass quantities of natural resources straight into the landfill?
I know, I know… “I’m free to do as I like” “It’s my money, goddammit!” “Who the hell are you to say (bla bla bla)…!” “What Would Jesus Buy?” “If I don’t spend more of the Visa shylocks’ money, the Terrorists win!!” “My little girl really wants two more bicycles! And I wilwee wuv her a wot!”
Hey, good points all… you win! And The Invisble Hand of the All-Knowing Market saves the day again.
[/rant that makes the Baby Jesus and J. P. Morgan cry]
Commense the flag-waving, All-American pile-on… NOW!
PS: Dear Wal-Mart-- Those are “employees” you’ve got there in your little lemming cult. They are NOT “associates.” An “Associate” is one of the other money-grubbing fuckwits on your board of directors who pull down 7 or 8 figures a year. An “employee” on the other hand, is the poor yahoo whose windpipe you just jizzed down while you make another million as he slices his digits off, breads them and sells them as corn dogs* at your newest Super-Duper Sam’s Robber–Baron Bonanza.
Well, you begin your argument with your personal, less-than-mainstream opinion. I wonder if I can find anything else in your post that won’t hold up to a reason to sink a major corporation. Let’s see. (I may need a nap to type as much as I suspect I’ll have to) :rolleyes: